Seydoux to star in Kechiche’s ‘Blue’

Thesp to topline with Adele Exarchopoulos

PARIS — Lea Seydoux, the rising French thesp last seen in “Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol” and Berlin opener “Farewell, My Queen,” has joined the cast of Abdellatif Kechiche’s “Blue Is a Hot Color.”

“Blue,” a €3.98 million ($5.32 million) dramedy based on Julie Maroh’s graphic novel, turns on a teenage girl who unexpectedly falls in love with another woman and faces her parents’ and friends’ judgment.

Kechiche is producing via his Paris-based Quat’sous Films and teaming with Wild Bunch, which will distribute in France and handle international sales. Belgium’s Scope Pictures and Spain’s Vertigo Films, which Wild Bunch co-owns, are co-producing.

“Blue” is the French-Tunisian helmer’s fifth feature. His most recent pic was “Black Venus.” which preemed at Venice. His directorial debut, “Poetical Refugee,” nabbed Venice’s Luigi De Laurentiis nod, while “Games of Love and Chance” and “The Secret of the Grain” each won four major Cesars. “Grain” also took the special jury prize, and three other kudos at Venice.